Chapter Text
Avery was concerned, and that was putting it very mildly. Whatever was happening to Derek sounded serious, and with how his armor seemed to have lost some of its shine and his cape seemed a bit… desaturated-
This was bad, wasn’t it?
Something was very wrong, and Derek was suffering because of it.
“...So what do we do?” The slime asked, anxious.
“Well… even when I was researching animated armors, I barely found any information.” Derek sighed. “So I don’t think it’s going to be easy to get help for this.”
Avery bit his lip.
“However, that colleague that turned into an animated armor may know what’s going on.” The dark armor continued. “I never noticed them struggling with anything, and they never missed work, so maybe I just… need to ask her for help.”
“Can I come with?” Avery asked, concerned. “I mean, I don’t… exactly know much help I’ll be, but-”
“Of course.” Derek spoke, smiling. “I mean, the trip to the hub is already going to be… tough, so it’d be nice to get some support.”
Avery relaxed, just a little.
“Right, so… the hub.” The slime muttered. “It’s… been a while since I’ve been there.”
“Same” Derek sighed. “But it’ll be nice to see the golem workshop again- wonder if they already finished the copper golem project…”
Avery blinked.
“...You gotta tell me about that when we head to the hub.”
The hub was large- larger than any world could be- and with how worlds were near infinite in size-
Yeah, the hub was impressive, with many different species working. competing teaching and just existing there.
Avery had never really paid much attention to just how busy it was, but after acquiring a world of his own (a world he had apparently been sharing with someone all along- they should probably talk to someone about that) and spending months there… the slime was just a little overwhelmed when he saw the familiar sights around the great gateway appear.
It felt good to be back though, and Derek seemed to feel similarly.
“All right, which way to the golem workshop?” Avery asked, looking around. There were many different ways to travel- some exclusive to the hub, others more common.
“We can take the aerorail” Derek muttered. “It’s the fastest way to the research and industry district.”
Avery hummed, noticing the other stagger.
“Need help?”
“...Yes please.”
Getting to the aerorail was easy, Avery filling the silence with idle chatter about past skyward tournaments he had won, challenges he faced and how he always had to let himself dehydrate just a little to be the perfect amount of squishy.
Derek listened, occasionally commenting, though only relaxing once he was able to sit down in a cabin of the aerorail.
“Thanks.”
“Anytime, Der”
As the cabin began to move, Avery finally asked a question he’d been meaning to ask for a while now.
“So… what… exactly is your job?” The slime asked. “Like… yeah you work at the golem workshop, but what do you do there?”
“Do you know what the golem workshop does?”
“Nope”
“Maybe I should explain that first.”
“Yes please! Because I thought golems just kind of… appear.”
“The golem workshop isn’t actually constructing golems” Derek chuckled. “We do research into golems, and try to understand the magic that creates them. We’ve made progress with that, and with our current understanding, we’re trying to create artificial golems that can do various tasks that the iron golems you know are not able to do.”
Avery was in awe.
“That sounds awesome! So your job is to just… make new types of golems?!”
“It’s mostly research and tinkering with various materials.” Derek chuckled. “I haven’t actually had any success with creating new golems- I wasn’t really… doing a lot of work on the copper golem project, I was mostly trying to work on my own project back then.”
“What kind of project?” Avery asked, scooting a bit closer.
“I was trying to see if there were materials outside of metals that reacted to the magic in a similar way iron or copper would” The animated armor replied. “I had some luck with tuff, but nothing notable happened.”
“That’s so cool though!” Avery spoke. “So there’s a chance that in the future, everyone will be able to create golems you designed?!”
“Erm- well… it’s possible?” Derek spoke. “But creating new types of golems is a team effort. The research and testing alone takes way too long to do on your own.”
“But, what did you do outside of… you know… that world?”
Derek was glad Avery seemed excited to share his own history with Derek- apparently being a competitive skywars player was quite a lucrative job; lucrative enough that with Avery’s skill, he could easily afford to get his own world.
…Which had the other pause for a second.
How… HAD Avery gotten into his world? The former elytrean had made it pretty clear at the world office that he had wanted to be the sole inhabitant of the place, and it should’ve been on the world file, so…
…So what happened?
A wave of nausea cut that train of thought off-
He’d deal with that AFTER talking to his colleague- He just hoped she wouldn’t go feral when she realized he wasn’t exactly an elytrean anymore.
They were armor buddies already, he didn’t want to know what they’d do if she realized Derek was now also an animated armor.
The golem workshop was a rather small, but clean-looking building- the walls made of smooth white concrete and iron doors that could only be opened with access cards- Access Cards neither Derek or Avery had, the former explaining he had lost his while wandering the worlds beyond the yellow gates.
Luckily, there was a person at the front desk, who seemingly recognized Derek right away.
“Oh, hi Derek! Made it back to the lab at last? You missed the launch party for the copper golems”
“Ah- so… that project got finished…” Derek spoke. “Good to know I guess. I… lost my access card in my world, can you-”
“On it~! I’m sure Ofelia will be happy to see you again- she’s been talking about how annoyed you’d be if she dropped by to check on you.”
Avery stayed quiet- Ofelia was probably that colleague that had also transformed into an animated armor.
“Oh, this is Avery, by the way.” Derek spoke up. “Can you give him a visitor badge?”
“Sure thing~!”
And just like that, Avery and Derek were in, with the slime having a bright pink and orange lanyard with a visitor badge hanging from it.
“Right, let’s go see if Ofelia is in their office.” Derek spoke, clearly used to walking the clean white halls.
Avery followed, trying to stick close to Derek-
His cape was just… limp now- it was dragging across the floor.
It probably should’ve- that’s normal physics, but-
…But Avery hadn’t seen it happen before with Derek’s cape.
…He really hoped Ofelia knew what was going on..
Derek paused in front of a door with colorful stickers on it, as well as a lopsided sign with the text ‘world’s okayest employee’ on it.
“...Ready?” Derek spoke, voice even more metallic now.
“...Ready as I’ll ever be.” Avery nodded.
Derek took a deep breath, before knocking.
“Come on iiiiiin~” A sing-song voice sounded.
“...If she knows what’s going on, She’s never going to let me live this down.” Derek muttered, already dreading it as he pushed open the door.
“Hey Ofelia. I need some help”
Avery glanced around the little office space, taking note of the many drawing, schematics and pictures on the wall-
and the absolute mess on the desk- a desk that was… pretty small, actually-
Probably because Ofelia, as a former axolotl hybrid, was also pretty small.
Speaking off-
“And this is Avery- my friend”
Derek stepped aside, allowing Avery to see a very, very short armor set- made of copper, and partially oxidized, though-
though there’s light coming from behind the visor.
“...Well…” Ofelia spoke up, voice slightly teasing. “This is interesting.”
“A lot must’ve happened if you somehow managed to make a friend on your own, Derek”